Annihilation - Finding Keepers (Annihilation Series (Book Seven}) (18 page)

“I hadn’t thought of that. I really hope they don’t either.”

Jake opened his eyes as the community gathered, and saw light from the setting sun shine on the ancient colony ship that had crashed next to the row of hills. As he watched the light move up the ship he saw a giant, faded, SR appear on the tail fin of the giant ship. He had never seen it before, and he suspected it could only be seen during the setting sun. Now he knew who the Seniors were; he was a Senior. The humans had been praying for the return of The Stars Realm for thousands of years. He looked at the giant SR and now knew the meaning of the Realm that Valerie had tried to teach him with the history download. He saw in these people how important the Realm was for the safety of its citizens. His heart swelled with pride to know that he was a part of that community. Then he saw Jackson stand.

“Welcome my children. We have all heard about the Good Luck Man that brings us good fortune. You’ve heard that he has a quest to touch every female in our community. I have decided to help him make it happen. Perhaps he will bring us all good fortune, maybe even the return of the Seniors. However, it is always good for us to come together; we should do this more often to celebrate who we are.” Jackson walked up to Jake and smiled at him, then said to the crowd, “We will start with the inner circle and move outward. After you touch him join those in the houses.”

The closest row of women stood, walked by Jake, and touched him; some on his cheek, some on his hands, some on his head, and some on his neck. They all kissed the hand they used to touch him. Jake was moved beyond words. The first row finished and the second stood.

The leader of the Keepers’ garrison was watching his monitor. He called his second in command over and indicated the monitor, “What are they doing?”

“It appears they are touching the one in the center.”

“Why?”

“How would I know? These lesser beings always seem to be doing dumb things.”

“Could this be part of a rebellion?”

The Collective heard the word rebellion used by one his billions and immediately turned its attention to the two Keepers, “What are you asking about?”

The two Keepers shrugged and continued to look at the monitor. The Collective looked at what they were seeing through their thoughts. It did seem like nonsense, but an invader ship had been killed in that system. Could that ship have contacted the food before it was destroyed? “Send a security team and find out what they are doing.”

The last row of women had touched Jake. None had caused any effect on him. Jake looked at Jackson, “Is this all of them?”

Jackson tilted his head, “Yes it is, son.”

Suddenly a high-pitched whine broke the silence of the crowd, and a large Keepers lander came in swiftly and settled to the ground in the middle of the clearing. Jake moved out of the clearing and into the front ranks of the crowd. Fifty Keepers exited the ship and the leader approached Jackson. “What are you doing?”

Jackson felt his fear, but answered honestly knowing the Keeper would hear his thoughts, “We were having a ritual. We were touching one of our members because we believe it will bring good fortune.”

“Show me the one you were touching.”

Jake knew that his time was up. If he refused to step forward there could be a huge loss of life. Jake Stepped out of the crowd and walked forward. The crowd started moving with him and the Keepers raised their weapons.

The Garrison Leader contacted the Keepers’ ship on the moon and ordered it to come to the planet. Cynthia was yelling at Junior to teleport Jake out. Jake felt nothing but calm and continued his walk toward awaiting death.

“Shut up, Cynthia. The ship is starting to send power to the drives. I am going to fire three penetrators into their shafts and teleport to the planet.”

The Keepers’ ship received word to come and assist the landing team, when suddenly the ship felt a huge shake followed by three fuel tanks exploding inside the ship and pushing a blast of white hot flame through the interior of the Keepers’ ship. Every Keeper on board died in the blast. The blast was not seen or detected outside the ship. The hull not only prevented energy from getting into the ship, but also prevented anything from escaping.

The Collective, however, felt the deaths of the six hundred Keepers on the ship. It directed its consciousness to the fifty members of the landing party.

The Keepers’ leader pointed his scanner at Jake and tried to read it. Jake knew that his bracelet was a fake and that it wouldn’t react to the scans. As Jake watched, the Keeper actually took the scanner, hit it with his other hand, and tried it again.

“What’s wrong with your scanner?”

The leader looked at his second in command and said, “It’s a piece of junk. I never get the same reading twice.”

“Here, try mine.”

Jake watched the two Keepers exchange scanners and the first one pointed it at him again. He showed the results to the second Keeper.

“Junior, now would be a good time!”

“He’s not pointing a weapon at Jake. Just hold on a moment.”

“Your scanner is also bad.”

“The second shrugged mentally and thought, “Perhaps it’s not our scanners, but his sender that has gone bad.”

The Leader stared at the other Keeper a moment, then walked forward and grabbed Jake’s arm to look at his bracelet. That’s when events began moving fast. The world turned bright blue and Jake felt the release of his psychic power. He immediately saw the central intelligence of the Keepers watching him thorough the minds of the fifty Keepers just before that intelligence was knocked unconscious by Jake’s psychic blast. The fifty Keepers in the landing party fell to the ground twitching and every Keeper in the garrison was stunned unconscious. The Collective that was directly linked to the landing team was hit with a psychic blast that blew its compartments apart and scattered them out into the Keepers’ population. The Collective was effectively knocked unconscious, as well as all of its quadrants. The trillions of Keepers never noticed the Collective was out. Each of the individuals contributed such a small part that it had no effect on each being. For the first time in millions of years, the guiding leadership of the Keepers was missing.

Jake felt the power when the Keeper grabbed his arm. The coating that had been applied to his scalp was blown away and Jake could see the entire universe in his mind. His perceptions became crystal clear, and he could hear the thoughts of those gathered around him. Jackson looked at the fifty Keepers that had stopped twitching and said, “What have you done? They will kill us all!”

Jake looked down at the dead Keepers. He saw the psychic blast was too much for them, and that their minds were severely damaged. Jake remembered the young woman and her baby being taken to be killed, and felt no sorrow over the death of the landing party. He also felt Junior trying to teleport him to the ship, but he prevented the field from forming.

Jake looked around the clearing at the gathered community and said, “For thousands of years you have been praying for the return of the Seniors. You call them Seniors because of the SR on the crashed ship. That SR does not stand for Senior.”

Jackson looked hard at Jake and asked, “What does the SR mean?”

“It stands for Stars Realm. Your ancestors came from there.”

“How do you know this?”

Jake saluted the gathering and gripped his two fingers. His Armor appeared instantly and he said in an amplified voice, “Because I am from that Realm.”

The gathered humans saw the metamorphosis as Jake’s armor covered him. The women started crying. No one knew what to think. Jackson was shocked, but then he asked, “Can you save us?”

“I don’t know, Jackson, but I’m willing to die trying.” Jake hit his communicator, “Junior, you can quit trying to teleport me out of here. I am not going to allow it.”

Cynthia saw Jake in his armor on the screen. “What does he mean that he won’t allow it?”

“I have been attempting to teleport him to us and he has somehow blocked my efforts.”

“Take us down there now!”

The Stars Realm ship dropped through the atmosphere; the thousands of Humans saw it as it settled four feet off the ground and remained stationary. Cynthia donned her armor and teleported out of the ship. The gathering saw the large SR on the tail of the ship and the tension in the air was electric. What was happening? Cynthia appeared in the clearing and walked up to Jake and said, “We have to go. Now!”

Jake looked at Cynthia and the coating covering her head disintegrated into nothingness, “We will use telepathy, Cynthia.”

Cynthia flinched, then heard Jake’s thoughts, “Jake, the Keepers will not ignore what happened here. We have to get you back to the Realm. You know how important you are to our survival.”

“Not without these friends.”

“Jake, you know the Keepers from that building are going to be coming. I’m certain that ships are also being sent. We have to go.”

“Junior, are you listening?”

“Yes I am, Jake. I’ve never seen a teleport screen blocked psychically. You must have found your integrator.”

““I did, Junior, it was a Keeper. You will immediately teleport to the Realm and bring three transports back with you. Tell Valerie to set the teleport screens on the transports to only teleport the DNA of the colony it will move. That way the bracelets and all their connections will be left behind.”

“Jake, we don’t have enough time to do that.”

“Junior, there is a ten hour window before the Keepers can get a ship here. I will hold off the ones at the building until you return. I will not leave these people to die. You are wasting time and you know it. What would your parents do in your place?”

Junior actually flinched electronically when Jake asked him. He paused a moment, then said, “They would die to protect these people, Jake.”

“How can you deny me the same right? Now go and bring the ships to save these people.”

Cynthia said, “Jake, we can’t risk losing you. You go with Junior and I’ll hold off the Keepers.”

“Cynthia, when that Keeper touched me my powers were released. You stand no chance against them; I do.”

Cynthia got angry, “It will be easier if I handle the attacks from the air. I am not going to leave you, Jake.”

Jake looked at her and saw her determination, “Junior, you’re wasting time! You need to go now.”

Junior kept trying to teleport Jake, but nothing worked. Junior decided, “I’ll be back.”

The gathered thousands watched as the ship rose and then disappeared.

Jake removed his armor and Cynthia removed hers as well. Jake looked at the thousands and said so all could hear, “I have sent the ship you’ve just seen back to the Realm to bring larger ships to move you from this planet. Everyone must stay here in a group. You may not take anything with you. We are going to transport you into one of our ships and the only thing going will be you. Even your clothes will remain behind. We are forced to do it this way to remove the bracelets and their connections from your bodies. We will provide everything you’ll need when we arrive back in the Realm. Any questions?”

“What if the ships don’t come in time?”

“Then just think of it as being your turn to be taken by the Keepers. My friend and I are going to do all we can to defend you until our ships return.” Jake looked around and said, “Kathea, where are you?”

Kathea stepped out of the crowd and walked over to Jake. “Kathea, that ring will not go with you if we are able to leave. I want to take it with me.”

Kathea thought about it and said, “Jake, if we are able to go back to this Realm you talk about, I don’t want it to go with me. I will get a new ring and start a new and happier history for myself and my children. This ring will only remind me of all the ugliness that happened here. Right now it reminds me of a better place than this. Can you understand that, Jake?”

Cynthia saw the affection Jake had for this young woman, but sensed from his thoughts that he looked at her as a sister he’d never had.

“Kathea, you are wise beyond your years. Please help keep everyone here in the center of the community.”

“I will, where are you going?”

“I have to keep an appointment with some Keepers.”

Jake looked at Cynthia and nodded. They saluted each other and turned on their armor. Jake hit his jets and Cynthia lifted right behind him. The Humans in the square felt the electricity of the moment and wondered what fate held for them. Jackson watched them leave, and knew that this moment was going to be historic for his people. Silence ruled the gathered thousands; then Kathea stepped out of the crowd and said, “I would give up my life for a chance to go with the Seniors.”

Jackson yelled in a loud voice, “We will live free or die! I choose freedom!”

The three-hundred-thousand-plus community raised the voices in cries of “Freedom!” Across the valley, the Glod and Cainth communities heard the sound echo off the hills and wondered what was happening.